On Friday, a state judge from California said that the state should re-evaluate earlier parole granted to thousands of sexual harassment convicts including those who have been charged with pimping minors. Allen Sumner, who serves as a judge for the superior court in Sacramento gave preliminary orders to prison officials to have part of the regulations re-written such as Proposition 57. The ballot measure that dates back to 2016 allows the justice department to giver earlier paroles for most of the sex offenders who are serving a prison sentence.

However, during the last gubernatorial campaigns for the California state governor race, Governor Jerry Brown gave a promise to the electorate that the parole would exclude all sex offenders. While rejecting an argument that had been tabled by the Deputy Attorney General, Judge Sumner said that the regulation goes too far. Maria Chan, the Deputy Attorney general gave a broad discretion to state officials to have any class of offenders who could cause a disruption to public safety and security when released excluded. Judge Sumner said that voters would have let it know if they had any intentions to have sex offenders that had been registered excluded from the consideration for early parole.

The state judge said that the authorities should narrow down the scope of exclusions to the offenders who are currently serving a prison sentence for violent sexual misconduct. He added that the corrections department should also come out with a clear definition of what crimes fall under which category to avoid confusion. Judge Sumner added that those prisoners who had already served a sentence for sex crimes including violent ones and are again in jail serving another sentence for a different crime should qualify for parole leading to early release. The CEO for the District Attorneys Association in California, mark Zahner said that the proposition 57 left so much room for ambiguity which opened the door for the ruling issued by Judge Sumner.

Zahner added that there was a significant danger posed by the early release of violent sexual offenders before they had served their full prison sentence. Janice Bellucci, who serves an attorney in Sacramento said that the ruling on Friday could allow the more than 20,000 convicts who are serving prison sentences for sexual offenses to be released earlier before the expiration of their sentences. Bellucci also serves as the California Reform Sex Offenders Laws President. She has also offered legal representation for thousands sexual offenders in the state.